


When the Oceans Catch Fire

by itsnotmyfault



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fights, Gen, Mikey is the only one who has his act together, Other, PTSD, Pre Acient One, leo finally takes a chill pill, let me dream that don had therapy ok, season four, someone help don, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-03-02 14:14:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18812581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnotmyfault/pseuds/itsnotmyfault
Summary: Leo finally pushes Don too far.





	1. Snap.

**Author's Note:**

> me: wow, a lot of people seem to be affect by same as it never was. can read to read some fics about don getting help-  
> a03: TCEST TCEST TCEST  
> me: wow you really gonna do this now  
> me: *starts writing* cuz we can do this now

Don was easily worried. 

 

Being the “brains of the bunch”, he had learned about just how dangerous the world could be. Just how one wrong move could lead to a snap of a spine. How one wrong word could send someone into a remorseless rage. How one wrong step could activate a death trap.

 

And after his little adventure? The world controlled by the Shredder? His family dying before him? To say that put him on edge was like saying Mikey liked pizza a little to much. 

 

And Leo was  _ not  _ helping.

 

Leo had been so aggressive lately. As expected, being sent on a multi-dimensional trip was not good for the mind, but he felt like Leo was taking it one step further. He had been so focused on training. On fighting. On “being ready for anything.” And it was driving Don insane. 

 

He loved training when there was  _ fun _ there. When there was care, encouraging words and helping someone up was an expected thing. Leo’s training was rough and unkind, cold and distant. There were no family bonds. There was no laughing and joking around. Just training, and training, and training, in the same distant,uncaring way.

 

_ Like a Leo he knew before… _

 

Don was currently sitting at his small workplace. Staring at his computer. The bank robberies and heists and been ever more present. News channels all over the city had been covering them. 

 

Forget the turtles, could  _ New York _ ever catch a break?

 

And where was the aforementioned Leo? Yelling at Raph. Fighting. Like they always do. 

 

At least with Raph, his anger was reserved for enemies and fights. And sometimes Mikey (but he was easing up on him). But Leo? His anger seemed to know no bounds. Mikey could accidently push a small mug over and Leo would spend 20 minutes lecturing him. 

 

He was desperate to block out the fight. It sounded  _ too familiar. Too painful.  _ But alas, Lady Luck was not on his side. 

 

“Leo, I know we need to be prepared and shit, but you’re taking it too far!”

 

“Raph, unlike you I’m doing what’s best for the team! Go yell at another punching bag!”

 

“Shut the fuck up Leo! Usually, you at least act like you have some idea of what you were doing! Now, you’ve gone full on crazy!”

 

“I’m only doing what’s best for the team!”

 

“What team?! You and yourself?!”

 

_ “We could’a saved him!” _

 

_ “If we went back, we would’ve been gone just like him!” _

 

Don was having trouble breathing. He didn’t want this world to end like the other. He didn’t want to hear this fight. So instead, he stared at his keyboard, hoping somehow that the letters would make all of this disappear. Like he could pretend that none of this was happening. He held his head in his hands, trying anything to stop those memories from flooding back in. 

 

“Don?”

 

Oh thank heavens.

 

He looked up to see Mikey leaning over him, concern spread across his face. “You ok man? You seem more worried than normal.”

 

Don sighed. “Sorry Mikey, but  _ someone  _ won’t stop arguing.” He sent a glance and their older brothers, hoping he got the message. 

 

Mikey looked up to Leo and Raph. “Ooohh,” he said in realization. “It’s been worse now, hasn’t it?”

 

Don rolled his eyes. “That’s a underwhelming way of putting it.”

 

“Do you wanna play pong?”

 

Don blinked in surprise at the question. He turned back to Mikey, who had started twiddling his thumbs. “I mean, Leo and I used to play all the time, but ever since...ya know..”

 

Don looked back at the other two turtles, before smiling. “Sure.”

 

Mikey perked up. “Really?!”

 

“Yeah. I mean, I can’t get much done when Leo and Raph are trying to yell off each other’s ears. Shell, they’re gonna yell off mine before anything else. ”   
  


Mikey had a big goofy grin on his face. “Well, what are we waiting for?!” He grabbed Donnie’s hand, quickly pulling him up and practically dragging him to his room. “We’ve got ‘training’ to do!”

 

Don couldn’t help the feeling of relief that spread through his body. Mikey could be a nuisance, but his intentions were always the best. And besides, a happy Mikey was better than a bored Mikey, or a sad Mikey, or a  _ betrayed and traumatized Mikey… _

 

Don shook those thoughts out of his head. Right now, he was gonna have fun. No deaths, no arguments, no hate or pain. Just fun. 

 

As he and Mikey settled down to play, he had something he had to make sure of. 

 

“Hey Mikey?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Don’t ever change.”

 

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

 

This time, Don couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

* * *

 

Leo had refused to let up. 

No matter how many times Don and the others tried to keep up, it seemed like Leo would never be satisfied.  Leo had turned stricter, like the universe mattered on how well they could throw a punch. Granted, many times it came down to that, but still. They had breaks in between those punches. 

 

Currently, they were driving back from a fight. They all had been injured in some way, but nothing too grave. Of course, anything that wasn’t perfect wasn’t good enough for Leo. 

 

The moment they stepped into the lair, Leo had started again. 

 

“When will you guys take this seriously?!”

 

_ I am.  _

 

“We have a city to protect, and you guys are always goofing around!”

 

_ I’m trying.  _

 

“This isn’t a game!”

 

_ I know. _

 

“Do you know how many people depend on us?! How many people have died because we were too-”

 

“WE KNOW LEO!”

 

Instantly, the entire lair went dead silent. Don didn’t want to yell, but getting Leo to shut up was more important at the moment. 

 

Leo seem to blank out for a second, before toughening and responding. 

 

“Well you sure don’t act like it! I feel like I’m the only-”

 

“WILL YOU JUST BE QUIET?!”

 

Silence again. But this time, Donnie didn’t wait. 

 

“We know we have a city to protect. We know we have people counting on us. What  _ you  _ don’t seem to get is that we are people too!”

 

Leo’s eyes widened, but Don was far from done. 

 

“You keep on talking and yelling like none of us have seen what you’ve seen. You act like the rest of are just idiots! Well guess what?! Some of us have! Some of us watched a world where Shredder took over! Some of us saw a world where we were barely managing to get by! Some of us saw a world where everyone they cared about died! Some of us saw a world where everyone was gone and-”

 

Don stopped. He could barely whisper out the final words. 

 

“ _ And it was all their fault.” _

 

Don didn’t realized he was crying till he heard his tears hit the floor. Quickly, he wiped them up, trying to hide what was already clear to see. He didn’t have to look up to see the horrified look on his face. 

 

“Don, I-”

 

“Save it, Leo.”

 

He shoved past the older turtle. “I’m going out on a supply run.  _ Don’t _ follow me.”

 

And just like that, he left. 

 

 


	2. Let's End This-Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo makes amends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> auggghhh, i took to so long to finish this fic and now i give it a shitty ending. needless to say im not happy with how this one turned out. ill probably write a better post-sainw fic later. I just wanted to finish this one.

Leo froze. 

 

The moment Don opened his mouth and started yelling his head off, his mind went blank. All of the anger and frustration that had been building up in him just melted away. As if his emotions were ice, and the raging fire Don had become had just dissolved it all into nothing. 

 

“Leonardo!”

 

Aw, fuck.

 

He turned to see his father staring at the remaining three brothers, clearly awoken by the ruckus Don had caused. 

 

Splinter’s eyes scanned the room. “What happened? And where is Donatello?”

 

His voice was gruff, clearly annoyed, with a small spark of concern in his eyes. He felt someone elbow him. 

 

He turned to see Raph staring at him. “Well, ‘fearless leader?’”

 

Leo cast his eyes down. “I-I don’t know Sensei. I was.. talking to the team and all of sudden-”

 

“Talking?!” Mikey interrupted. “You were yelling your head off! I’m pretty sure even Raph hasn’t yelled that loud!”

 

Leo shot him a glare before continuing. “Yes, and then Don- I guess I ticked him off somehow, and he started yelling about… us dying? I’m not really sure.”

 

Splinter sighed. “It may have been as I feared.”

 

Leo titled his head. “What do you mean, Sensei?”

 

Splinter pinched the bridge of his nose. “Leonardo, you are not the only one who is showing… side effects of our latest ‘adventures.’ It seems that Donatello might have felt or seen some terrible when we were spread across the multiverse.”

 

“Now that I think about it..” Raph trailed off. “He acted  _ really  _ weird when Splinter pulled us back from our little adventures.”

 

“Yeah!” Mickey agreed. “He started talking about how we were young, and weren’t dead… and had both arms… we probably should’ve paid more attention.”

 

Leo blinked twice. “He said that and you just ignored it?”

 

“We were a bit  _ busy _ Leo, in case you don’t remember,” Raph snapped back. “Oh wait, you should, since you’ve been-”

 

“ENOUGH!” Splinter interrupted, slamming his staff to the ground. Instantly the three brothers went silent. “Now is not the time for pointless arguments. Perhaps you should go apologize Leonardo. Clearly your words have affected him.”

 

“Understood Sensei,” he quickly responded, before running after his brother. Whether he wanted to or not, he was gonna get some answers.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Finding Don was the easy part. 

 

Don often went to the best junkyards he could find, filled with old military tech and broken down vehicles. Leo had helped him multiple times, but had stopped after he started trying to carry back car parts. 

 

Needless to say, he found Don in under an hour. 

 

Leo watched as his younger brother stomped around the landfill and picked up old pieces, throwing them away and muttering under his breath. Sometimes, he would stop at one pile and dig out a bunch of random junk before throwing his hands in the air and stomping away. 

 

Leo had never seen Donnie like this. Sure, he got annoyed at times, but he never went full on angry mode. That was Raph’s thing. Stomping around, throwing stuff- it just wasn’t the Don he knew. 

 

But then again, he didn’t even know who he was. Their last face-off with the Shredder had put a dent in his brain as well as his heart. He couldn’t focus anymore, not with the image of his family at the mercy of their mortal enemy burned into his mind. 

 

He bent down, trying to regain control. It was  _ his _ fault, wasn’t it?  _ He  _ couldn't protect them.  _ He  _ couldn’t save them.  _ This was all his fault _ . 

 

Wrapped up in his own existential dread, he didn’t realize that the turtle he had been tracking was right next to him. At least, not until he bopped him on the head with his bo staff. 

 

“Wha-ow!”

 

“What part of ‘don’t follow me’ do you not understand?”

 

Leo fell to the ground-well, surface of the trash heap. He looked up to see his brother, and although the flaming fire he had shown at the lair was still in his eyes, their was also a shine of mischief. 

 

Oh, this was going to be a long night. 

 

“Don-look I-”

 

He couldn’t find the proper words. It was all too fast. He should have planned ahead, should have thought about this sooner, should’ve been  _ better- _

 

He was snapped out of it when he heard a sigh. 

 

“Look-I’m sorry for yelling at you- can we just go home?”

 

Leo blinked twice. “ _ What? _ ”

 

Don looked away, as if he was hiding something. “Well, I mean, I just kinda yelled my head off and that clearly wasn’t the way to handle it so let’s just go back to the lair and-”

 

“No.”

 

It was Don’s turn to be shocked. “H-huh?”

 

Leo slowly pulled himself up, staring his younger brother straight in his eyes, trying to figure him out. “You were talking about watching someone-us- dying. You were  _ crying, _ Don. I.. I know I’m not in my best mind now either, but even I can see that something is going on.”

  
  


Donnie looked away, ashamed. “I... “

 

Leo put a hand on his shoulder. “I know that I haven’t been.. myself lately, but I’m still your  _ brother. _ I care about you. And you.. you can talk to me. No matter what I’m acting like.”

 

Don’s eyes stayed at the ground. “I…”

 

Leo felt nothing but guilt wash over him as he watched his brother look away. How could he have been so blind? He was supposed to be a  _ leader _ , but now he was just…. he didn’t know to describe it. Awful? Awful is good.

 

“Can I tell the whole family as a group?”

 

Leo’s distracted from his thoughts of self-hate when Don finally speaks. He lets out a little, remorseful laugh.

 

“Sure. Raph would probably yell at me till I spilled.”

 

Don lets out a sad laugh as well, and they both head home, hoping for answers or comfort- and maybe even both. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the ending. hope yall enjoyed the story anyway. im much better at introspection than i am at dialouge. comments are always welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> My first oneshot. Thanks for all the support on Connecting the Lines, but please read some of my other works? I worked really hard on those too. If ya dont like it tho, it's fine. Just wanna get some of my more serious works some hits too.


End file.
